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The Scaffolding Association aims to help its members and the wider industry after publishing a first-of-its-kind Clean Air Zone Tracker
The UK’s largest scaffolding trade body the Scaffolding Association has today published details that demonstrate the scale of Clean Air Zones (CAZ’s) being introduced across the UK.
Bath, Birmingham, and London already have schemes in place which are imposing charges on certain light and heavy commercial vehicles to enter specific areas and nearly a dozen more major towns and cities across the UK are at the advanced stages of introducing similar arrangements.
In recent years, the government has increased pressure on local authorities to improve air quality and many have chosen to introduce charges to deter the most polluting vehicles from entering their towns and cities.
The devolved powers that these local authorities have been given from central government have led to inconsistencies to the types of vehicles affected and the charges being applied from one town or city to another causing significant confusion for fleet operators.
The Scaffolding Association has said its pleased to be able to provide their CAZ Tracker which will help their members and the wider sector to understand the implications and support them when quoting for work and planning their journeys.
Chief Executive of the Scaffolding Association, Robert Candy, said “It is inevitable that our members working in urban areas will be impacted by Clean Air Zones now or in the very near future. Daily charges from £2 for LGVs to £300 for HGVs must be factored in when tendering for work and planning vehicle movements.”
He added “it is disappointing that local authorities see fit to penalise those working to build, repair or restore within their towns and cities. The construction industry has no feasible alternative to using commercial vehicles and more time should have been given for these businesses to upgrade to newer cleaner vehicle technologies in order to avoid charges.”
He said, “The average lifespan of a HGV is 12 years and businesses which have invested in vehicles that are now affected by CAZ’s have seen their values decimated and it will now be very difficult to sell them on.”
